Small animals, specifically mice and rats, have become the foundation of pre-clinical work in cancer, heart and neurological diseases and in general drug development. Just as in the clinical world, molecular imaging has provided a window into the world of molecular-based therapeutic interventions and the marriage of anatomy and physiology has been crucial to this understanding. This High-End Instrumentation Grant seeks to fund the acquisition of a tri-modality (CT, SPECT, PET), self-contained small animal imaging system from Siemens Medical Systems, the Inveon. The system requested will provide a platform for the investigation of fundamental disease processes characterized by the functional imaging capabilities of PET and SPECT with the precise anatomical localization of high-resolution CT imaging on the scale needed for rodents. The Inveon Preclinical PET, CT, and SPECT scanning system has all three modalities contained within a single gantry providing co-registered, high-resolution (i.e., 1.4 mm FWHM, 15 micron, 0.8 2.2 mm FWHM, respectively) images. Projects for which the acquisition of this system is critical are presented from such diverse specialties as radiation oncology and free radical biology, pediatric diabetology, cardiology and pathology. Currently, the University of Iowa has in place all of the necessary components to immediately utilize this scanner to its full capability including available space within a working animal imaging laboratory. The Small Animal Imaging Core (SAIC) has experience in imaging mice and rats, access to radiotracers (both PET and SPECT), and a functioning governing mechanism for the optimization of protocols and the equitable allocation of resources. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The public health relevance of this proposal stems from the importance of exploring disease and therapeutic interventions in fundamental, mechanistic ways. Mice and rats have been selectively breed to develop a plethora of diseases or to have their immune systems compromised in order to accept human cancers. Imaging has become a mainstay of disease and therapy monitoring in humans and these same methodologies need to be available to perform parallel assessments in pre-clinical model systems. The acquisition of this tri-modality scanner would significantly enhance the capabilities of NIH-funded investigators to explore the underpinnings of the diseases posing the most serious public health concerns in the US today, (e.g., cancer, diabetes, heart disease), through the imaging of our most utilitarian biological tools, the mouse and rat.